Eat, Drink & Save Money

Have you been watching your 401k turn into a 501c? At this point in the economy, we're hearing the official announcement that the country is in a recession. And the daily papers are full of articles about cheap eats. We know a few ourselves, and some you may not have heard about or thought of - yet.

1. Freeze Leftovers - Never heard of this one, right? Well read on. I live alone. Most dishes I cook at home can serve four or more people. Since I'm not interested in eating the same leftover over and over again over the course of a few days, I simply take at least half of it, put it in an airtight container and toss it into the freezer. The rest I refrigerate and enjoy a day or two later. A few weeks later I can pull open the freezer and the rest is still tasty. It becomes two – two leftovers in one! One caution is that when you're selecting food choices that will turn into leftovers, stay away from dishes that use leafy greens like parsley or cilantro. These items don't do well beyond about a day.

2. Check the Happy Hour Directory – There's plenty of good happy hour specials to be had and they are changing all the time. Use the SD! Happy Hour directory to get up to date with what's going on out there. (Photo: Ponti strawberry martini)

3. 30 for $30, 25 for $25 or whatever - There are a ton of various promotions going on to lure food lovers into high-end restaurants that otherwise they would not check out. In fact, where there use to be one promotion a few years back, there are more than a dozen going on in the Seattle metro area annually. Check you daily paper for listings.

4. Eat out, drink at home – Drink prices are nearing or have climbed over the $10 a serving mark at many restaurants. If you like to have a few drinks at night, consider having one at home before going out for your meal, just one with dinner and then go back home to finish the night up. You're dealing with a pro here. Stick a drink in front of me and I'll drink it. But myself and a friend or two can easily make a drink tab tilt over $100 for the evening if we don't manage our wallets.

5. Eat This, Not That – Since reading the book Eat This, Not That, I have a new found love for fast food chains. The book lays it all out for you to see and has plenty of options to help you eat nutritiously in a not-so-nutritious environment. Learning to say no to grease, mayo and other bads doesn't mean you can't eat at McDonald's, Jack in the Box or elsewhere. It just means you'll be eating differently. A good example: at McDonald's, order a Big and Tasty, hold the mayo and add mustard. What do you get? A basic burger that works as a meal. Want fries? Eat half of them and toss the rest. To drink? Water or a diet Coke. Now you're cutting calories and eating out affordably. If you have not read this book, do. Two things may occur. First off you'll be disgusted at how most chains load people with salt and fat. But you already knew that. Secondly, you'll learn how to dine on 500 calories or less no matter where you go.

6. Start Dreaming/Start Cooking – I love to eat out. It's part of my job, but it still ticks off certain accounting forces in my life. Recently I had a jones for a sloppy joe. Turns out I can't come up with one single restaurant around Seattle that makes them. Know any? Anyhow, I went ahead, reviewed a few recipes online and then came up with one of my own. And it was good! I followed my suggestion in the first tip on this page and had numerous meals from the one batch, thus saving lots of money that I otherwise would have used to eat out.

7. Dig into a good local cookbook – OK, let's face it. We all can't afford to eat at The Herbfarm, Rover's, Assaggio or The Palace Kitchen. At least not on a regular basis. Nonetheless all these places serve great food and each of their head chefs and/or owners have produced great cookbooks. For a lot less money than dining out at one of these places you can dine in with their recipes.

8. Eat less – That's right. Eat less. I'm good for about 2,500 to 3,000 calories a day. Which is way too high. My average is well over the USDA suggested amount of 2,200. I manage my weight by making sure I break a sweat almost every day, but I could drop 20 pounds (about what I need to drop to get into my zone) over several months if I dropped my calorie intake down to 1,800 a day and continued on with breaking a sweat each day. I'd be that much healthier and I'd spend less money on food – right?

9. Stop patronizing lousy food joints – In all this economic turmoil there will be restaurants that die. Some sooner than later. When you eat out, vote with your dollars and dine at places that serve respectable food that tastes good and is good for ya. This is a chance for you to re-evaluate your diet and find the silver lining in the economic cloud. I'm not going to name names here, you come up with your own, but restaurants that serve unhealthy meals that are worse than the average Joe can make at home deserve to die and now is the time. Does the 12 egg omelet guy, the greasy chicken wing people or the 16 ounce porter house steak place really need to be around when the dust settles?

10. Share a can or two – If you're doing all the things above, you're saving money on your overall food bill. Next time you're at the grocery store, consider buying an extra can or two of food to share with the local food bank or Northwest Harvest.

Patrick Thomas/December 2008

Patrick Thomas is a vocal foodie who has been eating his way around the Northwest since before the dawn of the information super highway.

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